


Adjustments

by stratumgermanitivum



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Post-Fall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-23 01:52:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17674166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stratumgermanitivum/pseuds/stratumgermanitivum
Summary: Years later, the smell of the sea still sent shivers down Will’s spine.





	Adjustments

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the After The Fall zine (AND GOT IN OH MY GOD). Just a cute little thing in my spare time.

Years later, the smell of the sea still sent shivers down Will’s spine.

They lived close enough to the beach that the dogs tracked sand into Hannibal’s pristine kitchen. It was a lot of reason to reminisce, to think of blood on his hands and Hannibal’s arms around him. Or to let the sea erode those memories away, filling him with new ones.

In the first few months, Hannibal had walked with a limp, when he managed to walk at all. It still came out before bad weather, when the electric scent of a storm blew in on the wind.

He limped now, following the dogs in from their walk. It amazed Will that he would volunteer to take them at all, let alone like them. And Hannibal did, indeed, like them. There were three -only three, because Hannibal had put his foot down- all mutts of varying sizes. Hannibal snuck them choice cuts from the fridge and let the little one warm his lap on chilly evenings.

There were a lot of things about Hannibal that amazed Will. Will had known he was adaptable, of course, but there were certain things he’d expected to chafe at Hannibal’s poise. Things like muddy paw prints on the carpet, Will’s habit of leaving damp towels around the bedroom, the ponytail Hannibal had let his hair grow into as a disguise. All things that Will had worried about, all things that Hannibal took in stride.

“Dante has eaten another wasp,” Hannibal said, in lieu of a proper greeting. Will leveled a disapproving glare at the largest dog, who utterly failed to look chastened. Six stings in and the insects were still viewed as snacks.

“Bad dog,” Will said, without any real heat behind it. Dante’s tail wagged happily as he followed his brothers out the door to make sure nothing in the house had moved while they were gone.

Hannibal sighed, joining Will on the couch. Will hummed his sympathy and scooted over, tugging Hannibal’s leg into his lap.

It was Hannibal’s hips that bothered him, truly, but if Will worked the knots from his thigh, it would go a long way towards soothing his pain. He’d taken the brunt of the impact, Will braced tight against him. Will had meant for them to survive, had planned for it, but in the rolling waves, he would have found a shared death to be acceptable.

They hadn’t died, though. Hannibal had pulled them both from the sea, despite the ache in his bones. He suffered for it, even now. Will, in comparison, was practically whole. The scars that lingered were from the dragon, rather than the rocky sea.

“It’s worse today,” Will noted, massaging Hannibal’s thigh in steady circles. Hannibal relaxed into the couch.

“I’m getting older,” He replied. Will winced.

“62 isn’t that old.”

“Well, we can’t all look twenty years younger.”

Will didn’t roll his eyes, because Hannibal disliked it, and because flirtation was yet another unexpected facet to Hannibal that Will would never quite adjust to.

“I look 54, Hannibal.” And he did, to his own perspective. His salt-and-pepper curls were becoming more salt by the day, whereas Hannibal had been too blonde to properly notice, right up until it was all silver, almost overnight. The laugh lines at the corner of Will’s eyes, the marks of a smile around his mouth… Really, Hannibal had aged better than Will had, probably from his collection of creams.

Hannibal smiled, reaching out to cup Will’s cheek. Will tilted his head to press a kiss into the palm, as he had a thousand times since they’d come here. “You are ever the siren you were when you pulled me over the cliff,” Hannibal swore, with a brutal honesty that never failed to bring a blush to Will’s cheeks, “I would follow you into the sea a thousand more times.”


End file.
